Spiral of Theodorus
Students in Mrs. Bitler's Algebra and Geometry classes were given the opportunity to show off their artistic talents and creativity. To create the Spiral of Theodorus, the students started with an isosceles triangle with one inch legs. Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we calculated that the length of the hypotenuse was the square root of two. Each subsequent right triangle used the hypotenuse of the previous triangle as one leg and the students added a one inch leg. Using the Pythagorean Theorem, they found that the second triangle had a hypotenuse length of the square root of 3. The third, the square root of 4. A pattern quickly became apparent. After creating the spirals, the students turned them into whatever their imagination (or Google) could dream up.
